


True and False

by Hawkscape



Series: Redtail Tales [12]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Alcohol, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Apologies, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Lies, Mind Control, Pre-Relationship, Self-Harm, Slavery, Stabbing, Touch-Starved, Touching, Touchy-Feely, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 21:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14005635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkscape/pseuds/Hawkscape
Summary: I will never cease to be salty about Fallout 3 not giving you a quest to save Gob so I decided to do it myself. Not as grim as the tags make it seem.





	True and False

Redtail walked into Moriarty's saloon like they walked into everyplace. Loud and with 200 pounds of armored up ghoul behind them. They saddled up to the bar and slid into it. “Your finest whiskey, barkeep!” Gob smiled slightly. One of the only people that treated him like a person was the former vault dweller. He poured them whiskey in one of the actually clean glass he kept behind the bar and made sure Moriarty was in his office before turning to begin bantering with them. But when he looked at their face, they seemed different and it caused him to pause. They seemed...false somehow. Like they were looking at him like a stranger or like they were cataloging him. It reminded him of how Moriarty looked at him. It was enough of a shock that he didn't say anything as he handed over the whiskey. “Thanks, Peaches.” They gave him a wink under their glasses before downing the drink.

They continued to seemingly leer at him as he continued to keep himself busy around the bar. He supposed he had been expecting this but it still hurt. He shouldn’t have expected their good natured naivety and kindness to remain intact after this long wandering the wasteland. They now most likely viewed him like everyone else, fascination at best and disgust at worst. He locked that feeling of disappointment and sadness in his chest along with all the rest of his emotions. “Hey Peaches, come over here for a second.” Called the cowboy in question.

It wasn't even a question. Of course it wasn't, why would it be? He had heard of the things Red had done across the wasteland. The ruin that followed them, and he hunched over as he meekly went over to them. He didn't want to become next in that line. “Yes?”

Red harshly grabbed him by his face. Gob tried to struggle against them but stopped after his first jerk, his eyes wide in fear. His face was turned side to side and observed and he felt like it was fifteen years ago with the slavers, looking at him like a piece of meat. What had happened to one of his only friends? He supposed he should have known that nothing good could ever happen to him. Red gave a smile, sharp and predatory, as they nodded. “Good.” Gob had the uncomfortable feeling that they were going to eat him and was weighing if he could struggle out of their grip without getting beaten when he heard a voice he never thought he would be relieved to.

“Hey! Hands off my bartender!” Moriarty came out of the backroom and was quickly making his way over to Red. The cowboy smiled at him cordially before releasing Gob. They pointedly wiped their gloved hand on their pants as if they had just touched something foul before standing up and opening their arms as they stepped towards a cross looking Moriarty.

“Ah, the man himself. Sorry, just checking out the merchandise. Browsing, you know.” Gob’s irradiated blood ran cold. They couldn't. They wouldn't.

Moriarty scowled. “I don't know what game you're playing, but my bartenders not for sale.”

Red saddled up to him, smile not leaving their face. “Everything has a price Moriarty. Let me level with you. When I first came out of the ground I was dumb as a bag of hammers and everyone was trying to coddle the poor little vault dweller.” They battled their eyes and put their hands together. “But not you.” They cocked their hips and pointed at him. “You told me how it really was. No one gets anywhere without caps, info, and power, in that order. And so as I'm tearing a strip through the wasteland I remember you. I remember this place and I remember you who gave me a crash course in this hell of a world, and I figured I wanted to pay you back. Take that shambling corpse of a bartender off your hands and make better use of him so you could actually be free to hire one that wouldn't make your patrons wretch.”

Moriarty sneered. “Yeah, not buying it lass.” Red twitched at that but otherwise their facade stayed up. “Old goody two shoes of the capital wastes suddenly gonna start keepin' ghouls as pets? As I remember you were pretty chummy with Gob last you was here. I was born at night but not last night.”

Red raised an eyebrow. “Look, I was young, naive, stupid as all shit. Thinking that there must be some humanity under their corpse like exterior but then I got older and I got wiser and realised again you were right all along. It doesn't bring me joy but it might be able to bring you profit. Name a price.”

Moriarty grinned sadistically. “Layin’ it on a bit thick there ain'cha? Alright lass, I'll play your game. Three thousand caps.”

Gob had to keep himself from blanching as he tried to not obviously listen to all that was going being said. Is that really how Red felt? It hurt so much but by this point he had mostly shut down emotionally.

Red did no such flinching. They only scoffed and laughed slightly. “Three thousand caps? Be reasonable mate.” They thumbed their hand to the mountain of a ghoul standing behind them. “I bought this one for one thousand.”

Moriarty eyebrow rose in amusement. “Oh yah did, did ya?”

Red’s happy facade started to crack as they were apparently getting a little sick of being disbelieved. Red reached into their belt and pulled out a combat knife causing Morty began to reach for his gun before the cowboy tossed the knife behind them. “Charon. Stab yourself. Try not to get blood on the nice man’s floor.”

The ghoul caught the knife expertly. “Yes boss.” Without hesitation he plunged the knife into his thigh, only flinching slightly.

Gob felt like he wanted to throw up. Any possibility that this could be a sick joke or some way for them to spring him was out the window. Even Moriarty seemed shocked. “Alright. Two thousand.”

Red smiled sourly. “Alright. I don't got time to mess with this any longer.” They reached into their jacket and pulled out a sack of caps. “This should be enough. Keep the change. If it's not all there, I'll be at my house.” They threw the sack of caps on the bar with a clatter. They turned their eyes to Gob who was pretending not to look at them. They let out a sharp whistle before spitting out harshly. “Grab your shit Peaches, were moving out.” Gob nodded and began scrambling to the backroom to grab his few material possessions. His mind reeled. What was going to happen to him? He didn't like to work for Moriarty, but at least he knew he was relatively safe. Yes, the man beat him, but he was at least mostly safe from roaming raiders and cannibals. He looked at the intimidating ghoul that still with the knife embedded in his thigh. Was he going to be expected to be like that? He wouldn't last a week.

He grabbed his stuff and Red nodded at him before turning back to Moriarty. “Pleasure doing business with you.” Moriarty simply raised the bag of caps as a response and Charon held open the door as both Red and Gob walked out. The taller ghoul looked at the smaller one as he walked through the door, his gaze seemingly boring through him.

Red breathed deeply before motioning their head. “Let’s go to my house, I'll explain what you'll be doing.” Gob didn't trust his voice so he just nodded.

The walk felt like it took a million years and Red seemed just as relaxed as ever. Nodding to the various people they passed and even tipping their hat. Finally, they made it to their house, which they unlocked before letting everyone else inside. “Age before beauty.” Gob clammed up but Charon semi-forcefully shoved them inside. Red closed the door and locked it. Gob looked around the house hoping it wouldn't be the last thing he ever saw before his eyes trained on Red again.

The cowboy finished locking the door and their entire demeanor seemed to change, all ease leaving them. “Charon, sit down.” Charon grunted as he sat down on the nearby couch as Gob tried to melt into the wall, out of the way. Red flit about the room before kneeling in front of the ghoul. “You want to take it out or should I?” All former harsh edge leaving their voice now replaced with seemingly genuine care.

Charon spoke but it was to low for Gob to hear. Whatever he said was followed by Red grabbing the knife. “Please, just let me, I feel bad enough already.” Bad? “On three. One-” They then yanked out the knife and Charon's only show of discomfort was his hand tensing and releasing. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, hold on.” Gob couldn't figure out what was going on. Red then carefully gave him a stimpack in the leg and his wound sewed up. They rubbed where the wound had been, showing no hint of the disgust they had before touched Gob. 

Charon got up and gently pushed them away. “It’s fine boss.”

Red didn't seem satisfied. “It’s not fine. I hated making you do that. Don’t forgive me for doing that, that's an order.”

Charon shook his head but kept his face and tone neutral. “You can't order me to do things non-combat related like that. Against the contract.”

Red seemed to sputter and raised their hand making Gob involuntarily flinch before it turned out to be just a good natured arm smack with no force behind it. “Oh, now you decide to get a sense of humor. I’ll make this up to you later, go eat some of the dandy lads I’ve been stashing. Shoo.” They then turned to Gob, who was looking at them confused and frantic. The cowboys nature changing again as they came towards Gob. Gob flinched but was met with a soft hand on their face, much unlike the earlier harsh appraising grab. “Hey, Gob, it's okay. You’re safe now.” Gob relaxed slightly but looked at them confused. “It was an act. It was all an act. I could never treat you like that buddy, you were one of my first friends after coming out of the vault.” They let their hand fall from his face and put it on his shoulder instead. “I had to find some way to get you free. I've been trying to formulate a plan to kill Moriarty and free you all but I have to do it carefully or you or Nova will be blamed. I also need to make sure there's someone there to fill the void and keep traders coming after he’s gone. Everything's almost ready, but it's gonna take some time. I have to get both you and Nova away while I do it. Step one of the last phase was buying you.” They put their hands on their hips and looked away from Gob as if dissatisfied. “Going to have to wait a few weeks so it doesn't look suspicious but then I'll hire Nova and kill Moriarty while we provide alibis for each other.” They turned their head back to face him again and Gob was flabbergasted. He couldn't believe it. Red was still the kind person they had been before. The cowboy in question smiled naturally. “You can go wherever you want, we may still want to keep up the facade while in Megaton, but I'll take you wherever you want and make sure you get there safely. You can go to Underworld and see your family again.” This seemed to break Gob as his eyes watered and he let out a shaky breath. Red flinched back. “I’m sorry, I should have warned you beforehand but I couldn't figure a way to-” 

Gob stepped forward and threw his arms around them. Red froze and Gob did to ,even if his crying made it difficult. When was the last time he had cried? He knew he had made a huge mistake. Just because Red didn't feel good about them being a slave didn't mean they wanted his disgusting corpse body on them. This was a horrible way of repaying them and as he tried to disengage, Red quickly reciprocated and wrapped their arms around him. Their strong warm grip caused Gob's throat to catch once more. When was the last time he'd been hugged? He melted into their embrace and tried to calm himself with little success. Red rubbed their back, muttering encouragements. “It’s fine. It’s okay. You’re safe now. Let it out.”

Charon, thankfully, had taken his leave and Gob got just the smallest hope that maybe good things could happen to him. Even if Red had been acting, what they had said about this world being hell was pretty close to true, but in the first hug they had had in years from his savior he somehow was able to hope things would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to message me!  
> http://hawkscape.tumblr.com/  
> https://www.youtube.com/c/HawkScape  
> http://hawkscape.deviantart.com/


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